Vocal stripping -Sound Forge - PC - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:Vocal stripping Posted by: Jweebles Date:9/7/2001 9:34:37 AM Does anyone know how to strip just the vocal out of a track?
Subject:RE: Vocal stripping Reply by: nlamartina Date:9/7/2001 1:00:29 PM Weebles, You've asked the thousand-dollar question. You cannot do it. As one user aptly put, "It's like baking a chocolate cake and asking later to take the chocolate out." The technology does not exist, nor will it for a long time. To eliminate the vocal track, your best best is to simply flip the polarity on one channel. However, this will only work well if the lead vocal is mixed dead center, and with a primarily dry mix. Note that this will often make the bass or kick disappear as well. I can recommend to you some reading material on this subject: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=73600 http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=72257 http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=3&MessageID=69193 http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=3&MessageID=67326 http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=59040 http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=58926 http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=58735 http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=58346 Good luck, and enjoy yourself. Best wishes, Nick LaMartina
Subject:RE: Vocal stripping Reply by: CharlesGarrett Date:9/8/2001 10:58:01 AM If you have SF 5.0 there is a pre-set in the "Process" drop-down menu for removing vocal (or any center of stereo field) material. Find it under the CHANNEL CONVERTER choice. It's a one-click no-brainer. But...if there is any reverb which is panned to one or both sides, it won't take that out. If you are putting your own vocal over the top, the old reverb might not be that noticeable, especially if you toss in your own 'verb or effects on the top.
Subject:RE: Vocal stripping Reply by: garrigus Date:9/8/2001 2:45:25 PM Hi Jweebles - I wrote up a tip about this in the latest issue of my newsletter (see below). Best, Scott DFreqTIP - Eliminating the Lead Vocal Copyright 2001 by Scott R. Garrigus. Reprinted with permission. No, I'm not talking about bumping off the lead singer in your band. What I mean by the title 'Eliminating the Lead Vocal' is removing the main vocal part from a prerecorded song. Someone recently asked me if this was possible, and I told him yes and no. Yes you can remove the lead vocal from a prerecorded song, but only if the vocal is panned directly in the center of the stereo field. And even then, the process isn't perfect. There isn't currently any audio software on the market that can analyze and remove only a single vocal part. Instead, you have to cut out the material in the middle of the stereo field. That means cutting out the vocal and everything else centered in the field. Here's how to do it in Sound Forge 4.5 and 5.0: 1) Open the audio file. 2) Choose Edit>Select All to select all the data in the file. 3) Choose Process>Channel Converter. 4) In the Channel Converter dialog box, choose the Stereo to Stereo - Vocal Cut preset. 5) If you want to end up with a pseudo-stereo file, no other settings are necessary. If you want to end up with a pseudo-mono file, activate the Invert Right Channel Mix option. Using this option makes the final results sound a bit better. 6) Click OK. Depending on the type of material that you're processing, the results will vary, but they'll never be perfect. You can try to tweak the mix a bit with EQ, but other than that, what you get is what you get. Maybe in the future we'll have more sophisticated software available that will be able to analyze and separate specific sounds from an audio mix. Scott R. Garrigus is the author of Cakewalk Power!, Sound Forge Power!, and SONAR Power! He is also the publisher of the DigiFreq music technology newsletter. Learn about more cool music technology tips and techniques and have the chance to win free music products by getting a FREE subscription to DigiFreq... surf to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/
Subject:RE: Vocal stripping Reply by: Rednroll Date:9/10/2001 9:41:14 AM And once you master that, and you learn how to strip Brittany Spears, because she is the vocals that I'ld like to see strip the most, then please share your secrets with us on this forum. Rock on!!!

Subject:Vocal stripping

Posted by: Jweebles

Date:9/7/2001 9:34:37 AM

Does anyone know how to strip just the vocal out of a track?

Subject:RE: Vocal stripping

Reply by: nlamartina

Date:9/7/2001 1:00:29 PM

Weebles,

You've asked the thousand-dollar question. You cannot do it. As one user aptly put, "It's like baking a chocolate cake and asking later to take the chocolate out." The technology does not exist, nor will it for a long time. To eliminate the vocal track, your best best is to simply flip the polarity on one channel. However, this will only work well if the lead vocal is mixed dead center, and with a primarily dry mix. Note that this will often make the bass or kick disappear as well. I can recommend to you some reading material on this subject:

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=73600
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=72257
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=3&MessageID=69193
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=3&MessageID=67326
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=59040
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=58926
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=58735
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=58346

Good luck, and enjoy yourself.

Best wishes,
Nick LaMartina

Subject:RE: Vocal stripping

Reply by: CharlesGarrett

Date:9/8/2001 10:58:01 AM

If you have SF 5.0 there is a pre-set in the "Process" drop-down menu for removing vocal (or any center of stereo field) material. Find it under the CHANNEL CONVERTER choice. It's a one-click no-brainer. But...if there is any reverb which is panned to one or both sides, it won't take that out. If you are putting your own vocal over the top, the old reverb might not be that noticeable, especially if you toss in your own 'verb or effects on the top.

Subject:RE: Vocal stripping

Reply by: garrigus

Date:9/8/2001 2:45:25 PM

Hi Jweebles - I wrote up a tip about this in the latest issue of my newsletter (see below).

Best,
Scott

DFreqTIP - Eliminating the Lead Vocal

Copyright 2001 by Scott R. Garrigus. Reprinted with permission.

No, I'm not talking about bumping off the lead singer in your band.
What I mean by the title 'Eliminating the Lead Vocal' is removing
the main vocal part from a prerecorded song. Someone recently asked
me if this was possible, and I told him yes and no.

Yes you can remove the lead vocal from a prerecorded song, but only
if the vocal is panned directly in the center of the stereo field.
And even then, the process isn't perfect. There isn't currently any
audio software on the market that can analyze and remove only a
single vocal part. Instead, you have to cut out the material in the
middle of the stereo field. That means cutting out the vocal and
everything else centered in the field.

Here's how to do it in Sound Forge 4.5 and 5.0:
1) Open the audio file.
2) Choose Edit>Select All to select all the data in the file.
3) Choose Process>Channel Converter.
4) In the Channel Converter dialog box, choose the Stereo to Stereo
- Vocal Cut preset.
5) If you want to end up with a pseudo-stereo file, no other
settings are necessary. If you want to end up with a pseudo-mono
file, activate the Invert Right Channel Mix option. Using this
option makes the final results sound a bit better.
6) Click OK.

Depending on the type of material that you're processing, the
results will vary, but they'll never be perfect. You can try to
tweak the mix a bit with EQ, but other than that, what you get is
what you get. Maybe in the future we'll have more sophisticated
software available that will be able to analyze and separate
specific sounds from an audio mix.

Scott R. Garrigus is the author of Cakewalk Power!, Sound Forge Power!, and SONAR Power! He is also the publisher of the DigiFreq music technology newsletter. Learn about more cool music technology tips and techniques and have the chance to win free music products by getting a FREE subscription to DigiFreq... surf to:
http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

Subject:RE: Vocal stripping

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:9/10/2001 9:41:14 AM

And once you master that, and you learn how to strip Brittany Spears, because she is the vocals that I'ld like to see strip the most, then please share your secrets with us on this forum.

Rock on!!!